Entries from May 2000

31 May 2000

I swear I’ve never been anywhere before where more people are either engaged, married, or going to more 5 weddings this summer. It seems like all my fellow staff members have been out of town at weddings each weekend since I’ve moved here.

It must be something about Missouri. I’ve never been to a friend’s wedding because none of my college friends have gotten married. But I move here and suddenly Chad gets around to proposing to Susan and tells me to keep my Spring clear to come to the wedding. Congrats Chad and Susan!

31 May 2000

If you just substitute forming awkward platonic friendships with guys instead of girls, the above could be the story of my high school years. Oh, except for the wearing a bikini to gym part. I can’t wait to read Part Two next week to see if he had a similar undergrad experience to my own.

Oh yeah, I don’t like my own nipples either. They’re too damn perky all the time, which makes me self-concious about wearing just a t-shirt without an undershirt.

31 May 2000

I guess I’m just at heart a “busy” person. Even though there isn’t much going on around here in Kirksville, I’ve found things to fill my day and take up all my time – I’m not happy otherwise.

I spent last Friday night at someone’s movie night (Bowfinger, which was very funny) and I went to a Memorial Day cookout on Monday with a bunch of folks from the English Dept. (faculty and grad students). Let me tell you – people here know how to drink. Just like I’m trying to pick up running, I’m trying to train my liver to keep up.

Oh yeah, I’m trying to get into running. It’s tough. I’m really pretty lazy and unmotivated when it comes to exercise. I enjoy doing step, because of the techno music, so I thought I’d enjoy running if I listened to techno music as well. Finally that Rio Player 300 I won after ordering books from bigwords.com is coming in handy – the music doesn’t skip as I flail about. I’m sure I have bad running form – I was as sore as all get out when I woke up this morning.

I’m finally starting to get some of the year-end reports from people who are leaving. Now I have lots of reading material to help me prepare for the coming school year and my new job. BTW, I got me first pay check today (for the half-month I’ve worked so far). It was easily the largest paycheck I’ve ever recieved. Now I’m going to have to start being good and put money away in the bank.

30 May 2000

I was a big fan of Sierra games while growing up, especially “The Colonel’s Bequest.” Sierra offered a free audio cassette of samples of their game soundtracks (which I still have) and I pined for a PC soundcard for years so I could play games and compose midi files.

26 May 2000

I’ve completed my first project since coming to Truman – a quick & dirty new Residential Living homepage. They’ve been without one for several months, which I’m sure has been very frustrating for incoming students (heck, it was frustrating for me as an incoming employee).

Basically I took all the exisiting information and dumped it into the university’s standard template (which I must say I really like and find very stylish). Now that at least something basic is up, I can go back and tweak it and add new features.

I don’t get the impression that the field of Student Affairs has embraced computer technology that much (beyond the use of Print Shop to make posters). I’m hoping to develop some web-based applications that can make Residence Life easier – the first project is a computerized duty calendar that can email RAs in the morning to remind them they’re on duty that night.

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26 May 2000

Frankly, I’m not surprised. No matter what happens (like today’s school shooting), Americans continue to feel safe and be lax with security measures – no one ever thinks it will happen to them or in their neighborhood.

I see it in the residence halls all the time. In a small community of 600 residents, where everyone knows each other by sight, students will still blindly open the door for strangers who knock on the stairwell doors or let strangers follow in after them when they come home at night. Students continue to leave their room doors and windows open when they step out. But students still get indignent when things are stolen from their rooms. Or, students get abducted or assaulted.

But I’m not one to talk. Shannon and Bertie always got on me for leaving my room unlocked at IU. Since I’ve moved to Truman State, I’ve been wandering the building I’m going to supervise next year. None of the employees or plumbers have stopped me to ask who I was – of course, I haven’t confronted anyone else either to make sure they’re really supposed to be there. But come Fall, that’ll be one of my top priorities.